This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-000898 filed Jan. 7, 2002 in the Japanese Patent Office, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chip-component accommodating device for automatically inserting and accommodating a chip component, for example, a compact chip component such as a chip size package (CSP) of a semiconductor device in an embossed carrier tape in a stable state; and to a chip-component examining apparatus provided with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
After chip components are tested with respect to electrical properties, in the final manufacturing stage, to determine whether there are defects or not, only the non-defective components are packaged into a predetermined package form and then shipped. Such a task is more or less automatically carried out. Presently, for example, the most common way of packaging the chip component is to insert a chip component into one of the embossments of the so-called embossed tape where equally spaced component-accommodating recesses are formed in a line in a carrier tape by embossing, and then to seal it with a covering tape. An automatic packaging device is used for this purpose.
This type of conventional automatic packaging device will be explained briefly with reference to FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B.
A chip component 6 is picked up, through negative pressure, on a tip end of a suction nozzle 8a provided with a suction hole 12, and is carried to a place above a component-accommodating recess 4 of a carrier tape 2 at the inserting position of the chip component (FIG. 6A). At this position, the suction nozzle 8a is lowered until the chip component 6 enters the component-accommodating recess 4 (FIG. 6B). Subsequently, the suction of the suction nozzle 8a is released and the chip component 6 is detached from the suction nozzle 8a. The carrier tape 2 is then moved in the direction shown with an arrow and the suction nozzle 8a is raised. The process then proceeds to the inserting step for the next chip component. Although not shown in the figure, the component-accommodating recess 4 of the carrier tape 2 is covered with a covering tape and then thermo-compression bonded, thereby sealing the chip component 6 inside the component-accommodating recess 4. The carrier tape 2 is then wound to a reel.
However, in regards to the processes of taking suction on the chip component 6 with the suction nozzle 8a, inserting the chip component into the component-accommodating recess 4 of the carrier tape 2 and then releasing suction so as to detach the chip component 6, it takes a long time from the moment when the suction is released to the moment when the chip component 6 is completely detached. Thus, there is a limit of speeding up the packaging, as the intermittent feed of the carrier tape 2 starts after the chip component 6 is completely detached.
If the suction nozzle 8a is raised after the release of suction, but before the negative pressure in the suction hole 12 is completely gone, or if the carrier tape 2 is moved to speed up packaging, problems or disadvantages may arise in that the chip component 6 may fall out of the component-accommodating recess 4, or in that the chip component may be inserted in a wrong position.
An automatic packaging device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application 5-81004 is proposed as the automatic packaging device for solving such disadvantages. In this proposed automatic packaging device, a push plate that is lowered in sync with the lowering of the suction nozzle is provided. The push plate is provided with a groove having a width larger than that of the tip of the suction nozzle but smaller than that of the chip component.
In the proposed automatic packaging device, during the operation of accommodating the chip component, the tip of the suction nozzle is placed in the groove of the push plate with the chip component held at the tip, and the suction nozzle and the push plate are lowered synchronously, thus inserting the chip component into the component-accommodating recess. The negative pressure within the suction hole is gradually released while the component-accommodating recess is covered with the push plate, and only the suction nozzle is raised. Here, because the component-accommodating recess is covered with the push plate, the chip component is held down in the component-accommodating recess and thus deviation in the position of the chip component can be prevented.
However, in the automatic packaging device disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application 5-81004, a push plate that is lowered in sync with the suction nozzle, as well as a mechanism for driving the push plate, are required, thus causing the device to be larger in size and to be more complex, and furthermore causing the cost of the device to increase.
Furthermore, with respect to the compact chip component having an outside dimension of, for example, 1 mm or less as recently known to be the dimension of the chip size package, the width of the groove of the push plate into which the tip of the suction nozzle is placed must be less than the outside dimension of the chip component, and the tip of the suction nozzle must be smaller than the width of the groove of the push plate. Thus, a high degree of dimensional accuracy and positional accuracy are required for the push plate and the suction nozzle. Furthermore, since the push plate and the suction nozzle are lowered synchronously, a high standard in assembling accuracy of the device is also required, causing the cost of the device to further increase.